Iowa City Solidarity Network

After 13 months (Nov 2010-Dec 2011) of working to build and grow a Solidarity Network in Iowa City, our members have decided to disband the network for the time being and focus our organizing efforts elsewhere. Though the reasons why some groups modeled after the Seattle Solidarity Network succeed and others fail is a subject deserving of further analysis, we had little luck in Iowa City. The calls we received never grew into winnable fights that would strengthen our cause and grow our network, and eventually the decision was made to channel our efforts elsewhere rather than into maintaining the Solidarity Network model which wasn’t working in our area. Some of the factors that led to our lack of success include prospective contacts choosing to seek legal counsel instead of our help or expecting us to fight for them not alongside them. Some contacts failed to follow up with us after initial conversations, and we dropped the ball on following up on other potential contacts. Our members are still active in other capacities locally including Occupy Iowa City, and should you wish to contact us please email at icsolnet@gmail.com.

Did your lease end July 31st? If you’ve rented before, you’ve probably seen the ridiculous fees that landlords sometimes try to pull on you when your lease is up: unexplained cleaning charges, questionable damages, or even fees that you can’t make sense of.

Pay close attention to your deposit check when it arrives. That initial shock of seeing a deposit return much smaller than you expected could mean that you’re being robbed of what’s yours. We have even heard of tenants never getting a single penny of their deposit, even when they went through the trouble of maintaining and cleaning the property.

If you feel like you aren’t getting back everything you deserve, you might be right. It’s easy to feel powerless in those situations. Landlords, especially big companies, tend to hide behind confusing and threatening legal statements that leave us feeling like we have no course of action. But we can defend ourselves, and we can win.

Take this story for example: Our friends in Seattle Solidarity Network stood together to defend a tenant, Tephra, who didn’t receive a deposit check when she moved out of her apartment. She quickly realized that her landlords had no intention of ever paying her back. By working together, Tephra and the Seattle Solidarity Network were able to pressure the company to pay her back in full. Read the full story here.

If anything like this happens, you are not alone. The Iowa City Solidarity Network is an all-volunteer network of fellow tenants and workers who are tired of being pushed around by our landlords and bosses. We want to help you fight back.

We’re not a service provider, and we can’t provide expert legal advice. What we can do is stand with you every step of the way while you get what’s yours. Hopefully you’ll do the same for the next person who is in your position.

If you have a problem, give us a call and we’ll meet with you to see if this might be something we can win together. The number is (319) 214-0793.

Greetings,

It may have been a while since you’ve heard any news about the Iowa City Solidarity Network. We have been keeping busy since our second public event in January. A good number of people signed up as supporters at that event, and we would like to keep everyone informed and engaged.

The Solidarity Network has received several calls, and they are continuing to come in. When we get a call, one or two Solidarity Network organizers meet with the person to discuss their situation and determine if their case meets our criteria for taking on a fight. Then it is discussed at meetings and over email. So far we have not taken on any of the cases, for various reasons. In some cases, the person resolved the problem on their own, or the boss or landlord began to cooperate. In others, people were facing immediate threats (such as eviction in a matter of days), or their problems were not within our scope.

We are continuing to evaluate our process and develop more effective methods to respond quickly as a group. This will involve a phone tree to inform supporters about an action on short notice. Every action will require a large group of people. This could mean getting together to deliver a demand letter to a boss or landlord, or maybe showing up to a picket outside a business. If you would like to be involved and have not yet given us your phone number, you can send it to the email: icsolnet@gmail.com

We have also been gathering information about housing and labor laws, as well as communicating with other solidarity networks to learn from their experience. There are some important lessons to be learned from other groups’ successes and failures.

At this point, the best way to get out the word about the Solidarity Network is through flyers. We have been flyering all over Iowa City every week or two. If you would like to help out with this, just send an email or come to a meeting. You can pick up a stack of flyers or find people to go with you.

People have been seeing our flyers, and they are responding. There is a real need for workers and tenants to stand together in solidarity and mutual aid. Remember that it took six months before the Seattle Solidarity Network took on its first fight. It is only a matter of time before we take one on, and all of us need to be ready.

Please let us know if you have not been getting meeting announcements and would like to. Meetings are at 3PM on Sundays. They are usually at the Iowa City Public Library, but occasionally they might be somewhere else nearby. Keep in mind that this is not a closed group by any means. Being an organizer is open to anyone who can attend meetings and take on some responsibilities. If you can’t make that commitment, there are still many important ways to get involved.

This article originally ran in the Daily Iowan last week.

Unpaid wages and unreturned deposits — these problems are nothing new to many people, and Iowa City is no exception.

Renters in Iowa City often sign a lease and keep the property in good condition, only to have a huge percentage of the deposit taken out for questionable fees. In fact, many renters simply expect to have their deposit withheld by landlords, or at least a large portion of it. Continue reading →

This Sunday, come to the Iowa City Public Library meeting room A to learn about who we are and what we want to do!